There is not a single joke, sight-gag or
one-liner in Monty Python's Life of Brian that will not forever
burn itself into the viewer's memory as being just as funny as
it is possible to be, but--extraordinarily--almost every
indestructibly hilarious scene also serves a dual purpose,
making this one of the most consistently sustained film satires
ever made. Like all great satire, the Pythons not only attack
and vilify their targets (the bigotry and hypocrisy of organised
religion and politics) supremely well, they also propose an
alternative: be an individual, think for yourself, don't be led
by others. "You've all got to work it out for yourselves", cries
Brian in a key moment. "Yes, we've all got to work it our for
ourselves", the crowd reply en masse. Two thousand years later,
in a world still blighted by religious zealots, Brian's is still
a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Aside from being a neat
spoof on the Hollywood epic, it's also almost incidentally one
of the most realistic on-screen depictions of the ancient
world--instead of treating their characters as posturing
historical stereotypes, the Pythons realised what no sword 'n'
sandal epic ever has: that people are all the same, no matter
what period of history they live in. People always have and
always will bicker, lie, cheat, swear, conceal cowardice with
bravado (like Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea), abuse
power (like Pontius Pilate), blindly follow the latest fads and
giggle at silly things ("Biggus Dickus"). In the end, Life of
Brian teaches us that the only way for a despairing individual
to cope in a world of idiocy and hypocrisy is to always look on
the bright side of life.